Technology Field
The disclosure relates to a touchpad supporting device and, more particularly, to a touchpad supporting device for a touch pad of a notebook computer.
Description of the Related Art
In general, a notebook computer is equipped with a touch pad for controlling a cursor of a mouse. The touch pad provides a keying area for user's pressure, and it is used as the left and right mouse buttons. Please refer to FIG. 8, and the touch pad 50 is supported by a supporting device 60.
The supporting device 60 includes a frame 61, a supporting plate 62 and two elastic plates 63. An opening 611 is formed on the frame 61. The supporting plate 62 is extended sideward from a sidewall of the opening 611 toward the inside of the opening 611, and the supporting plate 62 is located inside the opening 611. The two elastic plates 63 are extended obliquely and upwardly from another two opposite sidewalls toward a top surface of the frame 61, the two elastic plates 63 are located inside the opening 611, and ends of the two elastic plates 63 are not coplanar with the supporting plate 62.
When the touch pad 50 is mounted on the supporting device 60, the touch pad 50 is directly set on a top surface of the supporting plate 62, and the ends of the two elastic plates 63 sustain upwardly against a bottom surface of the touch pad 50. Thus, the touch pad 50 is set suspended on the top of the supporting plate 62, and a gap is formed between the touch pad 50 and the top surface of the supporting plate 62.
The touch pad 50 also has two engaging blocks 51. The two engaging blocks 51 are extended sideward from one side of the touch pad 50 close to the bottom surface, and the two engaging blocks 51 are parallel. The two engaging blocks 51 are provided for hooking the bottom surface of the frame 61, such that the touch pad 50 protruding from the top surface of the frame 61 due to the pushing of the two elastic plates can be avoided, which may cause the unevenness at the boundaries of the touch area and non-touch area and influence the operation of the user.
When the user uses the touch pad 50 to control the cursor of the mouse and needs to press the touch pad 50 to perform the functionality of left and right mouse buttons, the gap between the touch pad 50 and the supporting plate 62 of the frame 60 allows the touch pad 50 moving downward until the touch pad 50 touches the supporting plate 62. When the user doesn't press the touch pad 50, the resilience of the two elastic plates 63 is released, the touch pad 50 is sustained upwardly, and the gap between the touch pad 50 and the supporting plate 62 is recovered for next pressing. Thus, the touch pad 50 provides the functionality of left and right mouse buttons.
Please refer to FIG. 9. However, when making the two elastic plates 63, it is difficult to ensure that the ends of the two elastic plates 63 are coplanar. If the ends of the two elastic plates 63 are not coplanar, the sustaining forces on the touch pad 50 will be different. When performing the functionality of the left and right mouse buttons, the touch pad 50 will easily incline to one side, and influence the user's operation. Thus, the existing supporting device 60 needs to be further improved.
Additionally, another existing method is to set a metal elastic plate between the touch pad 50 and the frame 60. By utilizing the elasticity of the metal elastic plate, the functionality of the left and right mouse buttons can be performed. However, the additional setting of the metal elastic plate will increase the material cost, and increase the cost of manufacture.